This application relates generally to a device for staining strips of wood veneer. Although this invention has particular utility in the staining of wood veneer splints used as colored accents in handwoven wooden baskets, it also may be useful in staining other small wooden items, such as furniture accents, household items, and children's toys and their components.
Colored accents are a popular feature of certain handwoven wooden baskets. Most commonly, the color of these accents has been created by dyeing the wooden splints. This typically involves immersing the splints in household-type fabric dyes dissolved in hot water. The splints are worked and agitated in the dye solution for a specified time to achieve the most uniform color. The agitation is accomplished manually. Typically, it takes from about 30 minutes to 6 hours for one operator to dye a single standard splint unit. This process is time-consuming and inefficient. The hot water temperature and high humidity associated with this process also can make this operation unpleasant, which may adversely affect retention of employees in this process area.
The color of the dyed splints is affected by dye-lot variations, which are well known in the art. Considerable time is lost and production and disposal costs are increased when a particular lot of dye will not yield the desired color. The color of the dyed splints also may be affected by the water content of the wood, the air temperature, and other variable process conditions. As a result, it is difficult to produce dyed splints having a consistent color.
The household-type dyes also are subject to rapid fading upon exposure to sunlight or fluorescent light. Thus, dyed splints that have been stored in a lighted area for as little as four weeks may differ in appearance from those that are freshly dyed. Deep blues, greens and reds are particularly susceptible to fading. This leads to both waste and production planning problems, as all of the colored splints for a particular product generally must be produced, not only at about the same time, but also close in time to the time when the splints will be needed for production. Any quality problems encountered during the dyeing run may therefore affect production schedules.
Finally, dyed splints have drawbacks in the production of stained baskets, that is, where the entire basket is stained after weaving is completed. Typically, the baskets are stained a medium brown color using a water-based stain, referred to as an overstain. Some overstain color is absorbed by the dyed splints, which may darken and dull the color that was originally present in the dyed splints. As a practical matter, this has limited the accent color selection available for use in stained wooden baskets, because some colors simply are not aesthetically pleasing after they have been overstained. Some dye colors also run when they are re-wet with overstain, causing damage to finished baskets.
Baskets may be left unstained, of course, so that the color of the accent splints remains unaltered by an overstain. However, surface soiling resulting from use is likely to be more apparent on these "natural," or unstained, baskets. The transfer of color from dyed splints to natural splints during the weaving process (which occurs, for example, when a weaver slides horizontal weave strips into position along the vertical basket splints), also is more likely to detract from the appearance of a natural rather than a stained basket. Stained splints are much less susceptible to such color transfer.
It is possible to overcome some shortcomings of dyed basket splints by staining the wooden splints instead. The stained splints may have brighter colors and increased resistance to color transfer during weaving. However, no effective mechanized method of staining splints has been available. Thus, color accent splints generally have been produced by hand rolling the stain onto the splints or hand dipping the splints into a container of stain.
Even with these labor-intensive hand staining methods, care must be taken in prevent spots and drips from forming on the stained splints. The splints may develop spots if they are not separated individually for drying. They also may stick together if excess stain remains on them. Generally, avoidance of these problems requires wiping down the stained splints or hanging them individually to dry. Both processes are time-consuming, and neither is completely effective in preventing spots and drips.